mesentery

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. Any of several folds of the peritoneum that connect the intestines to the dorsal abdominal wall, especially such a fold that envelops the jejunum and ileum.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. The membrane that attaches the intestines to the wall of the abdomen, maintaining their position in the abdominal cavity, and supplying them with blood vessels, nerves, and lymphatics.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. The membranes, or one of the membranes (consisting of a fold of the peritoneum and inclosed tissues), which connect the intestines and their appendages with the dorsal wall of the abdominal cavity. The mesentery proper is connected with the jejunum and ilium, the other mesenteries being called mesocæcum, mesocolon, mesorectum, etc.

n. One of the vertical muscular radiating partitions which divide the body cavity of Anthozoa into chambers.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. In anatomy, a fold or duplicature of peritoneum investing the intestine or other abdominal viscus wholly or in part, and serving to retain such viscus in its proper position in the abdominal cavity.

n. In zoology, some structure like a mesentery; a perivisceral or mesenteric septum.

The whole of the gut is attached to the body by a suspensory mechanism called the mesentery, which connects the 20m or so of gut loops to the underside of the spinal column within the abdomen over a length of a few centimetres.

Perhaps it will not, therefore, be found unreasonable, if we say that the veins, by means of their orifices, absorb some of the things that are applied externally and carry this inwards with the blood, not otherwise, it may be, than those of the mesentery imbibe the chyle from the intestines and carry it mixed with the blood to the liver.

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"What couldn't be stopped was the ooze from the man's belly, where the ripping tushes had laid open skin, muscles, mesentery, and gut alike. There were no large vessels severed there, but the intestine was punctured...."—Diana Gabaldon, Outlander (NY: Delacorte Press, 1991), 195